FSEP Function

Sets the token delimiters for the FGET function.

Category:

External Files

Syntax

FSEP(file-id,characters<,'x' | 'X'> )

Required Arguments

file-id

is a numeric variable that specifies the identifier that was assigned when the file was opened, generally by the FOPEN function.

character

is a character constant, variable, or expression that specifies one or more delimiters that separate items in the File Data Buffer (FDB). Each character listed is a delimiter. That is, if character is #@, either # or @ can separate items. Multiple consecutive delimiters, such as @#@, are treated as a single delimiter.

Default

blank

Optional Argument

'x' | 'X'

specifies that the character delimiter is a hexadecimal value.

Restrictions	'x' and 'X' are the only valid values for this argument. All other values will cause an error to occur.
Restrictions	If you pass 'x' or 'X' as the third argument, a valid hexadecimal string must be passed as the second argument, character. Otherwise, the function will fail. A valid hexadecimal string is an even number of 0–9 and A–F characters.
Tip	If you use a macro statement, then quotation marks enclosing x or X are not required.

Details

FSEP returns 0 if the operation was successful, ≠0 if it was not successful.

Example

An external file has data in this form:

John J. Doe,Male,25,Weight Lifter
Pat O'Neal,Female,22,Gymnast

Note that each field is separated by a comma.

This example reads the file that is identified by the fileref MYFILE, using the comma as a separator, and writes the values for NAME, GENDER, AGE, and WORK to the SAS log. Note that in a macro statement that you do not enclose character strings in quotation marks, but a literal comma in a function argument must be enclosed in a macro quoting function such as %STR.

%let fid=%sysfunc(fopen(myfile));
%let rc=%sysfunc(fsep(&fid,%str(,)));
%do %while(%sysfunc(fread(&fid)) = 0);
   %let rc=%sysfunc(fget(&fid,name));
   %let rc=%sysfunc(fget(&fid,gender));
   %let rc=%sysfunc(fget(&fid,age));
   %let rc=%sysfunc(fget(&fid,work));
   %put name=%bquote(&name) gender=&gender 
      age=&age work=&work;
%end;
%let rc=%sysfunc(fclose(&fid));